The development of films or coatings as protective films for display devices such as a CRT screen is well documented in the art. These include antireflective coatings, hardcoats, optical coatings, and the like. Nevertheless, there continues to be a need for further improvement in the development of polymerizable high index materials for optical applications. Exemplary applications include antireflective coatings, hardcoats, and other film materials. Many polymerizable films have a refractive index of 1.5 or less. Because of the optical advantages, however, an increase of the refractive index to 1.58 or more, and more preferably 1.6 or more, would be a desirable improvement. Furthermore, there is a need for durable, inexpensive, and yet high quality antireflective coatings that exhibit relatively higher refractive indices. The development of hard coat compositions having refractive indices of 1.58 or higher would facilitate a reduced cost of manufacturing, a reduction in raw material costs, and would also provide non-fringing hard coats on desirable substrates such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET).